GRADUATE PROGRAM
PhD QUALIFYING EXAM
To qualify to continue in the PhD program, students must pass the written Qualifying Examination. The Qualifying Exam includes two parts, macroeconomic theory and microeconomic theory, and requires the student to demonstrate achievement of an acceptable level of professional competence in these fundamental areas of modern economics. Specific information about this exam includes:
- The Qualifying Exam can be attempted by a registered economics graduate student who is in compliance with the program’s GPA standards for Satisfactory Performance, and who has completed the Macro and Micro theory course sequences.
- The Qualifying Exam is administered in January. Normally, the macro half will be given on Monday and the micro half on Friday, of the week before classes start. Each half will be approximately five hours in duration.
- The two halves are equally weighted in the determination of the overall result. A solid pass in both parts, a solid pass in one part and a marginal pass in the other, a marginal pass in both parts, or a solid pass in one part and a marginal fail in the other constitute an overall pass in the combined exam. Other cases result in failure, and the student must retake the full exam. Only one re-take of the Qualifying Exam is allowed.
- For students failing the exam in January, a re-take session is offered during or near the week before final exams that spring semester.
The links below provide examples of past exams. Note that the specific scope of an exam may vary by year, according to what the committees judge to be the scope of training of the student cohort.